Kemosabe
by Gage39
Summary: A man is dead and John is forced to choose between saving himself or Tonto. But what happens when the Indian decides to take matters into his own hands? Character death! Better than it sounds.


Kemosabe

_This wasn't supposed to happen,_ John Reid thought dully as he stared at the corpse lying at Tonto's feet, a bullet hole from the Indian's gun still in his forehead. No one was supposed to die, and certainly not an innocent civilian who had just been trying to protect his family; granted he had been trying to protect them from _John_ and not the outlaw that was facing him but still.

"It was him or you," Tonto finally broke the long silence. "Do not expect me to apologize, Kemosabe, because I am not sorry."

"I know," John replied numbly as he glanced at the man's weeping family. He could do the right thing which was to turn himself into the sheriff or he could ride out of town with Tonto who was already mounting Scout. Ten minutes later both men rode out of town at breakneck speed and didn't stop until they were several hours away.

* * *

Three days later the posse finally caught up with them but that was only because Tonto had caught a cold and become delirious, continuously calling John, Red, and trying to hug him which had creeped the young Ranger out to no end. So when the posse, led by the sheriff, entered the small cabin where they were staying late that afternoon, John honestly couldn't say that he was very surprised.

"Almost lost you a couple of times," the sheriff said conversationally.

"I know," John replied even as he laid a wet washcloth on Tonto's fevered brow.

"How bad is he?" the sheriff asked, sitting down in one of the empty chairs.

"He should be fine in a day or two," John said, eyeing the sheriff curiously.

"That's good," the sheriff nodded then turned to the rest of the posse. "Wait outside," he ordered. Once they had left he turned back to John. "You done some mighty good work, Ranger. Folks all around talk about you like you was something special. I don't really want to drag you back and hang you so I came to offer you a deal."

"What kind of deal?" John was slightly wary. Just because he tried to see the best in everybody didn't mean that he took everything at face value but that was mostly because he had gotten tired of Tonto laughing at him.

"We don't know for sure whose gun killed the man so if you give us the Injun we'll leave you alone."

"No!" John practically shouted then forced himself to calm down before he woke up Tonto. "I…I shot the man, Tonto had nothing to do with it."

The sheriff frowned. "You sure that's the story you want to go with, son?"

John hesitated, and then looked down at the unconscious Tonto. "Yes, sir, I'm sure."

"Well all right," the sheriff stood up then opened the door. "We leave at first light. We'll camp outside tonight so don't you dare try to sneak out."

"I won't," John's shoulders slumped as he handed all of their weapons, including Tonto's, to the sheriff who walked out the door, closing it behind him.

"You very stupid, Kemosabe," Tonto whispered hoarsely.

John jumped. "You scared me to death," he gasped. "How are you feeling?"

"You make bad trade," the Indian said. "It was good offer, you very stupid."

John glared at the helpless man lying on the bed. "You're sick; you don't know what you're saying," he said calmly even as he tried in vain to give Tonto some cough syrup.

"That stuff nasty," Tonto declared, pushing it away. "Just because I'm sick does not mean my ears stop working."

"It's my choice, Tonto," John said. "Just let it be."

The Indian looked at him for a long moment then rolled his eyes. "So be it," he murmured.

* * *

The next morning the Lone Ranger walked out of the cabin, limping in his boots. "You leave the other alone?" he asked the sheriff.

"Like I said, it's your choice…" the sheriff's voice trailed off as he looked up at the masked man. "It's your choice," he repeated.

The Lone Ranger nodded sagely. "It better I take the blame than him," he petted Scout, whispering something in the horse's ear before mounting Silver. "We go now, quickly before he wakes."

"Sure thing," the sheriff eyed him then shook his head. "Alright, boys, mount up. We're heading back right now."

As the posse began to sluggishly mount their horses Tonto turned and looked back at the cabin one last time. "Take care, Kemosabe," he whispered then urged Silver forward.

* * *

When John woke up the sun had already risen and was shining through the window. He yawned and sat up, feeling as if there was something that he was supposed to remember. He looked around the room then his eyes widened when he realized something; Tonto wasn't there. In fact, Tonto was not only missing but so were John's clothes, badge and mask. In their place, sitting in a pile on the bed, were Tonto's clothes, including the crow and what looked like several strands of hair and beads.

"No," John whispered in horror, pulling on a pair of pants and shirt left behind by the previous occupant of the cabin then ran outside only to skid to a stop when he realized that Silver was gone too. Only Scout remained, looking just as unhappy about the situation as John was. Quickly he saddled the horse then jumped on. "Take me to Tonto," he ordered.

Scout, John discovered, was most definitely under orders from Tonto to slow him down. Granted Scout wasn't as fast as Silver but he could still run pretty fast but now he was just meandering along, often stopping to chew grass or poop.

By the time that they reached town John knew he was too late. They were already cutting the suit clad body down from the gallows, the sun glinting off of the badge he wore.

"No," John slid off of Scout, tears welling up in his eyes as he watched them throw Tonto's body on top of a stack of other corpses.

"So you really didn't know."

John turned around to see the sheriff standing there, arms crossed.

"I figured not, since you turned it down the day before but the way I see it that man there died so his friend could live a normal life. I advise you not to waste it," the sheriff turned and walked away.

"I guess we should take his advice," John whispered to Scout who nickered softly, nuzzling John's cheek. "C'mon, boy, let's go…home."

* * *

A few days later John arrived back in Colby, Tonto's things neatly packed in a hat box, with the crow sitting on Scout's head. After looking to make sure that no one was watching John dropped a few kernels of grain on the crow's beak then quickly shoved it in a different hatbox when he realized that he could now see Rebecca's farm. He made Scout stop for a minute as he surveyed the land from high atop the hillside. It felt…right coming back here like this but he still missed Tonto. Then he saw Rebecca waving up at him, with little Danny right alongside her.

"_Go, Kemosabe,"_ he heard a voice whisper in his ear. _"Fill the woman with child or I shall have Scout dump you then trample on your head until you have sense in it."_

John laughed loudly then spurred Scout on, his heart much lighter than before.

* * *

A/N: I am well aware that it's not very good but I just had to write a story for this movie because it was totally awesome! Hope you guys liked! Please read and review!


End file.
